I heard someone mention that Boise reached record-high temperatures today. I never verified the actual degrees, but it was definitely hot when we rode into town.

I tried out double-shorts today to ease some of the stress on my rear. It certainly soothed the backend, but over the miles, I began to experience highly unpleasant pressure on my lady parts. I don't think I'll be doubling up my shorts again. I just wish there was a better way to pad the the pertinent areas, and I am sorely reminded of the days when I longed for an ass like J.Lo's. It would have served me well at a time like this.

This is Alison. She's the one pictured between the Dynamic Duo below: her Aunt Kay, who trained for this tour with a 2009 Arkansas State Road Race Champion ... and her boyfriend, Jay ... the 2009 Arkansas State Road Race Champion.

Alison does not have an ass like J.Lo's, but she has the longest legs I have ever seen on an 18-year old. To all the dirty, old men out there (and to some of the guys my age that I know), it bares repeating ... she is only 18 years old. Alison is one of my two roommates. I rode with her for the first few days of this tour, until her legs and skill level began to quickly exceed mine. Now she is generally more than a few miles ahead of me.

My other roommate is Beth. She is celebrating 50 years in almost exactly the same way that I am celebrating 30. Have you ever looked into someone's eyes and immediately saw a good soul? That's what you see when you look into Beth's.

I think that the three of us have an excellent triple-room situation. We laugh a lot. We laugh about one thing or another from nearly the time we all wake up until even after the lights are out. I should have begun jotting down the ridiculous things we've said in the last eight days. And we pee a lot. In the continuous quest to stay hydrated, it's been a peeing spree in every hotel room from Astoria to Boise.

I rode with Beth today. An avid mountain bicyclist, she is generally way ahead of me on every ride - and often showered and lounging by the time I wheel Maddy into our hotel room. Today, however, she was coasting through a recovery ride into Boise so I tagged along. Even then, I had to work to keep up with her.

Riding with all of the other cyclists on this tour, like Beth, I have been receiving a wealth of information. Even if one rider has already offered the same advice, another rider often provides additional depth and breadth about why that particular suggestion is important. I certainly won't know everything there is to know about cycling by the time I dip my front wheel in the Atlantic Ocean in August, but I am excited about the fact that I will have learned at least 47 new things!

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain

Where I'm Going

Where I've Been

"Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it."
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

"Or - in the end - whatever you did not do will also be insignificant, but which way would you rather have lived?"
- Me

Lost Girl of the Week

Featured June 29, 2011, on www.lostgirlsworld.com

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust & sweat & blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again & again, because there is no effort without error & shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold & timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."- Teddy Roosevelt

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"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, your body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, 'Woo hoo! What a ride!'" - Unknown

"If you're not careful, there will only be two times in life when you truly believe that you can be whatever you want to be: when you're too young to know any better and when you're too old to do anything about it."
- Me

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."- Helen Keller